The word Science originated from the Latin word scientia meaning knowledge. Science indeed means knowledge in a broad sense of the term. But science is not knowledge for the sake of knowledge; nor is it knowledge which is taken for granted. The sole aim of Science is to explain the natural phenomena occurring arround us. Science is knowledge which logically explains natural phenomena and which can be tested. Further on, Science systematically builds and organizes reliable knowledge.
The term Scientific Management is slightly ambiguous. It can refer to a certain management theory also called Taylorism, or it can refer to any theory of management which has been formulated logically. For purposes of convenience, let's take up the case of the specific management theory called Scientific Management or Taylorism.
This theory was propounded by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the USA. This theory was first used in the 1880's and 1890's in the then existing manufatcuring industries. It reached it's inluential peak in the 1910's and 1920's, but was nearly obsolete by the 1930's.
The theory of Scientific Management analysed and synthesized workflows. Its primary aim was to increase economic efficiency, labour productivity in particular. The idea behind the theory was to find the most efficient way to perform any task. The responsibility to do this lay with the managers. The task would then be broken up into micro components or steps, and workers would be trained to perform these specific tasks. Thus, craft production, which depended solely on the skill of the labourers was transformed into mass production, which required less skill and consumed less time.
Though Taylor had no idea at that time, he had also actually planted the seed for automation of production. By breaking down tasks into micro-tasks, which required no decision-making skill on the part of the worker, he had shown how automation could be achieved with the help of machines.
Scientific Management invited wide criticism in later years mainly because of the fact that it dehumanized and de-skilled workers to the point where they actually performed the role of machines. In fact, Taylor himself demonstrated a very condescending attitude to the workers of lower intelligence, often comparing them with "draft animals" The basic assumption of Scientific management was that all workers were unmotivated and inefficient. So the theory concentrated on creating a standardized best-practice process, which the workers would be forced to follow. The power of making decisions was completely taken away from the workers. The massive divide between the blue-collar and white-collar workers created by this theory led to an increase in the ever-present labour-management conflict.
Taylor did advocate output-based remuneration to workers to motivate them to become more efficient. He introduced a piece-rate compensation which rewarded the workers for higher productivity. But this idea was mostly rejected by the manufacturers of that time. Instead, they looked to use Taylor's theory mostly to expolit their workers to the fullest.
Even though Taylorism as a theory pretty much died out by the 1930's. many of his concepts still persist in management theories today.
The term Scientific Management is slightly ambiguous. It can refer to a certain management theory also called Taylorism, or it can refer to any theory of management which has been formulated logically. For purposes of convenience, let's take up the case of the specific management theory called Scientific Management or Taylorism.
This theory was propounded by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the USA. This theory was first used in the 1880's and 1890's in the then existing manufatcuring industries. It reached it's inluential peak in the 1910's and 1920's, but was nearly obsolete by the 1930's.
The theory of Scientific Management analysed and synthesized workflows. Its primary aim was to increase economic efficiency, labour productivity in particular. The idea behind the theory was to find the most efficient way to perform any task. The responsibility to do this lay with the managers. The task would then be broken up into micro components or steps, and workers would be trained to perform these specific tasks. Thus, craft production, which depended solely on the skill of the labourers was transformed into mass production, which required less skill and consumed less time.
Though Taylor had no idea at that time, he had also actually planted the seed for automation of production. By breaking down tasks into micro-tasks, which required no decision-making skill on the part of the worker, he had shown how automation could be achieved with the help of machines.
Scientific Management invited wide criticism in later years mainly because of the fact that it dehumanized and de-skilled workers to the point where they actually performed the role of machines. In fact, Taylor himself demonstrated a very condescending attitude to the workers of lower intelligence, often comparing them with "draft animals" The basic assumption of Scientific management was that all workers were unmotivated and inefficient. So the theory concentrated on creating a standardized best-practice process, which the workers would be forced to follow. The power of making decisions was completely taken away from the workers. The massive divide between the blue-collar and white-collar workers created by this theory led to an increase in the ever-present labour-management conflict.
Taylor did advocate output-based remuneration to workers to motivate them to become more efficient. He introduced a piece-rate compensation which rewarded the workers for higher productivity. But this idea was mostly rejected by the manufacturers of that time. Instead, they looked to use Taylor's theory mostly to expolit their workers to the fullest.
Even though Taylorism as a theory pretty much died out by the 1930's. many of his concepts still persist in management theories today.
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